Wonderwall
by kkattapiya
Summary: The afterwards of Yamatai's Nightmare. Short story that keeps my mind busy for college.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys. Kkattapiya speaking!**

**So, that's my first fic. I finished Tomb Raider last week and Lara Croft and her new friend Sam are so super duper adorable - like friends or something else. And after beating the game I read that article where new TR's writter Rhianna Pratchett said she "would love to make Lara gay". ...WHO I AM TO DISAGREE LOLOL**

**Anyway, hope you like this short afterward. Please, review and tell me any wrong word or non-sense I wrote, ok? Enjoy :)  
**

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**Chapter 01: That's what friends are for.**

"I'm not going home", she said with such conviction it made Margane Kamotsu ship's captain think twice before pull her out of her thoughts.

"Lady Croft?", she faced him at last closing the book she was reading, "Your turn, miss.".

"_Damn."_, she thought. _"The others need more assistence than me. They had been through too much due my curiosity…"_.

"But you need care nonetheless" sounded a tender voice behind the two of them. Lara knew that voice. She would recognize it wherever she was. And she did.

"Are you ok, Sam?"

" 'course I am. I'm a tough cookie, ya know", the american girl showed her imaginary muscles to emphasize, making Lara Croft briefly smile in amusement – thing she rarely did since they aboarded. But Sam understands her friend. God knows what brutal things she must have seen… and done.

The captain cleared his throat to make himself notable and the younger brunette proceeded towards the doctor's cabin. She knew bad things were coming. And so did Sam. Reaching the doc's door, the latter stoped and placed a hand over her friend's shoulder.

"I'll be right here."

"Mhm. Thank you, Sam.".

Opening the door, a gray-haired man, with short beard and tan skin greeted Lara. He asked her to lie down on the improvised hammock. Carefully helped her take off the clothes that were covering her torso and then he saw. He saw all those recovering holes, scratches. _"What did happen to her?"_

It didn't take long for the brunette got out of the cabin and there was Sam. She heard the doc says "do it quickly" before the door closes again. Lara heavly sighed.

"So?"

"Just have to get rid of this dirt. My wounds are healing already."

"That's great" Sam said. And she really meant it. Thanks to Lara, she was safe and sound from Himiko, Mathias and could be there, going home. However, it was impossible not to see the pain in the eyes of the archeologist. "Need some help?" she added. Her friend hesitated but finally noded. Sam bet the adrenaline was lowering and Lara began to feel the real pain of her wounds. She smiled. It wasn't always that Lara Stubborn Croft shows her weakness and asks for help.

They reached the girls' room. It consisted in a buk, a desk – which Lara's already managed to fulfill with all the documents she gathered back in Yamatai – and a little wardrobe. Beside the bunk there's a door leading to a small room with a tub that badly fits a single person and a toilet. Luxury wasn't the lead into Margane ship.

After the brief check-up, Lara told Sam she needed some help to take a bath. Sam didn't even take some time to ask why – she would do anything and everything for her saviour.

"I will never be able to pay you back…"

"Excuse me?"

"Ah!" then she realized her whisper wasn't low enough, "Never mind. So, hm, I'll get some clothes with the crew. You can not stay wearing rags, can you? After all, you are a Croft".

Lara risked a light laugh but that still really goddamn hurt her ribs. "You sounded like Roth" she managed to say before a hurtful whine. Lara and Sam felt for the first time after all the rush that Roth wouldn't come back. He wouldn't yell at the girls in the ship's aisle for being late (mostly because of sleepy-head Samantha).

… Tears made their way to girls' eyes.

"Alright. I'll go pick the clothes" Sam left before both of them started crying. That wasn't the right thing to do with Lara like that.

A couple of minutes has passed when Sam came back holding some folded clothes and found no one. Panic embraced her for a few seconds but the bathroom's door was partial opened. There was Lara, wearing only underwear, sitting on the tub's edge, staring at the rusty wall before her. "_That gaze of hers" _- the american thought – "_since the day we met each other, nothing can take that blank gaze off of her…"_; but that's not what made Sam astonished. She stood there for a while only looking at her friend – at Lara's _body_. Even with all those scratches blemishing her skin, she's still so pretty.

Sam sat behind Lara and startled her in the process.

"Sorry."

"That's ok", she looked at Sam, "Shall we?"

"Sure.".

The water started pouring above Lara's head, spreading over her shoulders, back; but then the warmth began to hurt every inch of her torso. Seeing Lara curling in pain, Sam turned off the water.

"Bad idea, uh."

"I think so… Damn it."

"Right", Sam stretches her right arm and reaches a small towel hanging in the sink. "I'll clean you up, sweetie."

"I can not refuse, I assume…"

"It's the least I can do.".

With the said damp towel, the filmmaker started rubbing Lara so softly that it seemed more like a caress than a proper rubbing. She began cleaning her shoulders and arms, then her armpits till the hips. Cautiously not reopening the wounds.

Being behind Lara, so close to her, made Sam feel funny inside, and it didn't take too much for breast-time comes. Excusing herself, she pressed the towel over those two mounds of flesh. There's a thick wet towel between Sam's hands and Lara's breasts but she could reassure they're indeed soft as they seemed to be. They're round and firm as the rest of her friend's well-toned body.

And perky.

"Something's wrong?" a low voice retaing the cry asked in the middle of the so-small bathroom.

"N-Nah. It's okay. Everything's just fine."

"_Shit"_. She couldn't believe she stuttered! Lara's in a terrible condition with all those injuries and mental breakings. How come she could think those kind of things in a moment like that?

The only uncleaned part of Lara was her feet and Sam pomptly washed 'em quickly. The tub's water was getting cold, anyway. With that, Lara stood up and wrap herself with the bigger towel. "Done", said Sam after drying her friend's body and helped her wear the new clothes. She guided Lara to the lowest mattress. Lara lay down. Everything was right. The bath's finished, Lara didn't notice Sam's awkward behavior back there but then, when she was leaving to take a quick shower, she felt something warm preventing her from leave. Turning around she found Lara holding her hand without even looking at her – she was still. Not trembling neither crying. Just holding her friend's hand. Sam could feel an uneasy feeling in Lara's hold.

"Hey," she crouched beside Lara, "I know how you feel."

"So, would you stay with me?"

For some reason, the whole situation was different. Lara and Sam stayed together many times, but with broken Lara Croft right before her she felt some kind of protective feeling. Most maternal.

Lara, seeing her friend's hesitation, tried to reason herself. The said american girl didn't allow her to, though. "Sam?" questioned Lara, having Sam straddled over her.

"Shh. Tonight I'm not going anywhere, sweetie.".

Weirdly beside Lara, Sam reassured lightly squeezing the archeologist's right hand. They turned their bodies to face each other, touching foreheads, sharing the some air to breath.

"Thank you, Sam. For being here."

"I'll be here when you wake up. Don't you worry and take some rest."

"No, Sam."

"No what?"

"I'm not greatful for having you in my bed. I mean, not only that. Thank you, Sam, for being part of my life. Back in Yamatai – ".

"We don't have to talk about that."

"No", Lara closed her eyes, "I must.".

The way Lara said the last sentence wasn't just towards her friend. She wanted to convince herself. Samantha will never forget what came after that.

"Back in Yamatai, I thought we'd have a great time like in Bulgaria. However, things's changed. I let Mathias take you away from me. I let… I put everybody in danger. It was all my fault. But you, Sam… If I ever lost _you_", Lara contained the tears and squeezed Sam's hand harder, "You gave me the strength to keep going. Losing you wasn't an option and I knew that in the end I would find you. And I did. I think dad was talking about these kind of supernatural thing we don't notice into us. Samantha," Sam looked up at her younger and now serious friend, meeting those hazel eyes opened.

"as long as you stay by my side, I will not let you go out of my sight never again."

She fell deeply in Lara's eyes and spotted they have greenish circles…

"I'm gonna be supervised forever? Geez…" she said to enlighten the mood and was rewarded with a wide white smile in the darkness. She felt the other body moving and a hot but tender breath touched her cheek oh-lord-so longing. Sam tasted the following whispered words all to herself till falling asleep. And then she wondered that perhaps her previous maternal instinct wasn't so maternal at all.

"_Lara, what are you doing to me?"_.

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**That's all, folks. Hope you liked as much as I liked to write. About ship's name, watching the ending cutscene, I spotted some writing on the side of the ship. It's written "MARGANE 貨物". Da hell is 貨物. As a japanese student, I found out 貨物 means _cargo_ but the kanjis separated mean _treasure _and _thing_. Anyway, I just named it after what I saw.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Guuuuys D: I can't believe someone read my fic haha I... I just wanted to put that plot away from my mind and people really read. OMG ^^**

**Thank you so much much for reading, favoriting, reviewing. I didn't know it was _that_ good when someone says your story is a good reading~ **

**Well, I'll weave some details before the chapter. It won't take long, promise!**

**1) Reading about (Alternate Time) Lara Croft, I found out Sam and she are friends since boarding school. That's why I wrote about there. If it's in TR wikia, IT IS TRUE LOLOL**

**2) UCL means University College London. I've never been in UK - till now -, but it seems to be a fucking awesome college. And I found Salara graduated there (thank you, wikia).**

**3) Beating the game will make you know that Samantha has some oriental traits (just look at her pretty face) and Lara knows japanese, so here goes the translation of the ending's little japanese chit-chat they had:**

_**- You're late!**_

_**- I'm sorry.**_

**Yeah, this is it. Enjoy and, please, make me happy: review, message me, whateves~ **

**I'm a sick person. I need motivation :(  
**

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**Chapter 2: Into You**

"_Geez... Where's Roth?", Sam asked. She's wearing a red skirt that supposed to be knee-high – what didn't stop her to rolled it up till the middle of her tights, by the way -, and a long-sleeved marine blue shirt; "You told him we're getting the hell outta here today, didn't you?"_

"_Yes… Yes, I did."._

_The girl beside Sam wears a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt with the same color pattern, plus a nice pair of leather boots. She has a light brown hair – kind of messy but it was a organized mess that makes her even more beautiful. Her hair's the frame for those chubby lips, turned-up nose and greenish eyes. Her name's Lara._

"_So what's going on with the old man! It's hot as hell today!"_

"_Who's 'old man'?" said Roth, forcing an angry voice._

"_Yek!"_

_Roth was Lara Croft's protector. The father she needed after her parents' disappearance. He was there to pick the two girl friends from their last day at boarding school. The girls just had finished high school and now have to move on to find a place in the world – but Lara already knew where she's going. And Sam, who's hugging her arm even being so hot, would come along for sure._

"_Thank you, Roth, for picking us to UCL."_

"_My pleasure, Lara. I'm so happy you two make it", he briefly hugged her, placing a kiss on the girls' head, "however –"_

"_Hold on jus' a sec", interrupted Sam, "Who's the bastard that studied with us and now is going home with that awesome car?"_

"_Well, you."._

_Lara looked at him and gasped._

"_Roth!"_

"_Now, now, Lara.", he said, "I know you don't like to use the fortune your parents left but you made it. I'm here only making what for sure your dad and mom would have done."._

_Without waiting some protest against his deed, Roth picked and placed all Lara and Sam's things in the jeep's back assent. With Lara inside the car gazing at the wheel, he closed the door._

"_Congrats, you two. Enjoy every bit of UCL and come visit me for more training sessions."_

"_That last part is for Lara only, right?"_

"_You right, Slowpoke. Now, go."._

_Due the amount of squeals inside the jeep, Lara put away her astonishment, ignited the car and now they're riding to UCL, one of the brightest universities in UK._

_Sam was smashing the radio buttons, trying to find some cool music to fill the amazing countryside background they were crossing when Lara finally said something out loud._

"_You fangirl", teased Sam._

"_I- I'm not a fangirl… I just appreciate their songs."_

"_Yeah, right.", Sam knew Lara too well to trust on her because always Oasis plays wherever they are, Lara's world stopped._

"_Songs must have lyrics, meaning, and this particular song is really my cup of tea. I like it."_

"_Oh, never seen romantic Lara!"_

"_It's not that!", she lightly punched Sam's arm, "I just want, someday…"_

Sam covered her eyes with one hand. She was lying down on a king sized bed and felt the emptiness beside her.

"Did I wake you?"

"No, you didn't", she yawned, "But why on earth you are up at…", checked her smartphone, "four in the morning?".

Lara gave her a crooked smile – that one that gets through with all her serious façade and only to her best friend. Sam sighed. Since they reach England, Lara was having some sleep problems. Sam and the Endurance's survivors also had some issues but got rid of them. Lara didn't, though.

"Did you take the medicines?"

"You know I am not into remedy. I rather read something"

"Right. Read here in the bed", Sam patted the mattress' available side.

"…On my way."

"Since when 'on my way' means 'I'll stay where the heck I am'?"

Lara sighed, "Sam,"

"Don't even start", Sam started crawling till the mattress' edge. She was wearing a silky baby doll and salmon shorts. "Sweetie, you're not sleeping well. Even if you slept today twice more than you've slept yesterday, it isn't enough. _Please?_", she pouted.

Sam's pouting was known as irresistible. And Lara wasn't immune. She stood up and walked to the bed while Sam quickly crawled back to welcome her with a nice place to lean back. Even though both have almost the same weight and height, Lara concluded Sam's body is warmer and way better to pillow-hug. Properly placed between her friend's arms, she closed her eyes, almost giving up to sleepiness.

"Sam?"

"Mhm.", she answered in the same whispering tone.

"The book I'm reading."

"Yes?"

"I borrowed from UCL library and it looks there're some rumor, hm…"

"We're going to travel already? But you didn't talk with the press yet."

Lara hesitated.

"Not 'we'. I'm going to."

She could feel Sam's eyebrows changing their form, her teeth clenching. Suddenly Sam's body was rigid as a rock. Lara assumed that wasn't cuddling time anymore.

"May you, please, listen to what I have to say?"

"No"

"Ok… wait, what? You said 'no'?"

"Yeah, that's right.", Sam shoved Lara, pressing her in the bed's headboard, "You are _not _going to any dangerous place without me."

"It is not dangerous. It seems, uh –!", Sam squeezed Lara's cheeks altogether.

" 'It seems', you say. You don't know the place the book's talkin' about. Don't gimme this. I won't buy it"

"Sam", the younger one managed to say, "remember what I said back in the cargo's ship?"

She nodded. Now Lara's holding her fists to prevent another cheek-smash.

"I _won't_ let you go out of my sight never again."

"And how are you supposing to look after me while digging some godforsaken tomb?"

"Keeping you in a safe place?"

"You mean a cage?"

"No…", Lara got some time to say what she wanted, "at home. Live with me, Sam?"

Samantha was totally taken aback. The determination in Lara's eyes were the same she saw when her friend carried her to the boat fixed by Reyes days ago, after dealing with Himiko. She didn't notice Lara's hands going up, cupping her face. And she started whispering.

"I wasn't sleep-talking in our first night of rest inside Kamotsu. I really meant that, Sam," Lara moved forth. A sweet blow touched Sam's skin then gravity lose its place inside the room. Sam's lips were the softest thing to Lara. The archeologist tasted them once, looked at her confused eyes, whispered "I really did" and tasted again, Samantha followed her lead and touched Lara's lips. But that wasn't enough. When she realized, her mouth's opening and timidly – almost instinctively – Lara allowed herself to explore the oriental mouth. Touching every side, every crook. Sam wasn't disappointing. Lara was certain about that. She felt fingers trailing her cotton black shorts and ended upon the filmmaker, foundling such milky skin.

Sam pulls back letting Lara understanding nothing.

"Woah", she took some air, "You're not allowed to play tomb raider role without me, though.".

* * *

"There are many things that I

would like to say to you

but don't know how.

Because maybe

you're gonna be the one that saves me.

And after all,

you're my wonderwall…"

"_See?", said Lara, eyes fixed in the road ahead, "I just want, someday, to call someone my wonderwall. I know it's silly, but the life I might take won't be all sugar and rainbows. I may break… I'll need someone to keeps me going."_

_Sam stared at Lara silently. Lara's eyes were never so pretty, so illuminated._

_She placed her hand on top of her friend's hand on the wheel._

"_I'm sure you're gonna find someone. Maybe you already know the person, but didn't figure out yet."_

_Lara chuckled, "Clubber Sam's talking about love?"_

"_Hey, you! I wanna be a filmmaker. I need to catch emotion!"_

_The girls laughed out loud, feeling university time would be an awesome prequel for whatever life they'd share in the near future._

It's been two hours since she sat there holding her favorite camera for homemade videos. The door's knob moved. Sam jumped in place and turned on the gadget.

"Osoi!"

Putting the big bag she was carrying in the floor, the newcomer rubbed the back of her neck.

"Gomen ne."

Lara reached the camera, taking it away by placing it over the desk in front of the bed, finally giving a peek on Sam's cheek, then other.

"I told you the research would take at least a couple of days", she kissed her again.

"A couple of days without any communication.", Sam took Lara off her feet. It was hard but not fair that only Sam was carried every now and then, "Would it hurt go to some civilized place and gimme a call?"

"Aw, needy Sam!".

Lara took Sam's face in her hands and Sam did the same.

"Sam", she whispered, "Is the camera on?"

Sam looked back and found her camera with a red light blinking. The camera was directed at both of them.

"It is."

"Hm", Sam's on top that time, "Great".

"Oh… kinky.".

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**Hope you all liked it. That's the final version. I will write something else, perhaps. But I'll keep this fic as 'finished'. Better than an one-shot, don't you think? c:**

**I just found out Oasis is a british band. Dang... I was right to putting 'em in it.**

**Take care and don't let any-motherfucker-one put you down!**


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